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THE NATIONAL GEC
Culbertson and Thomas Clark, of Illinois;
Earl & Stuart and William S. Van Natta, of
Indiana.
American breeders essayed the task of in
troducing finer finish. The heads and horns,
as well as the hind quarters, were improved,
largely by resort to the concentration of blood
of animals possessing the desired points, and
at the present time it may be said that the
American Hereford is more uniform in type
and symmetry than his English progenitors.
The fact that 1,423,483 head of purely bred
Herefords have been registered by the Ameri
can Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association,
and that this great expansion has taken place
in comparatively recent years, demonstrates
what a remarkable hold the "white-faces" have
obtained in this their adopted country.
The secretary of the association, which boasts
12,208 stockholders and the patronage of 6,ooo
breeders not members of the organization,
computes that there are at the present writing
more than 400,000 registered Hereford cattle
in the United States. He claims that there are
more than 400,000 registered Hereford cattle
service here-20,000 more than of any other
registered beef breed-and 25 States are sup
posed to have more registered Herefords than
registered cattle of any other beef breed. Good
herds are still maintained in the New England
States and steady progress is being recorded
throughout the entire South.
In the Western America trade, Texas and
the Southwest have become the favorite breed
ing grounds, although fine herds for the pro
duction of "seed stock" for use upon the range
are also maintained in Colorado, Wyoming,
Montana, and the Dakotas.
A dominant feature of cattle-feeding in the
Corn Belt proper at the present time is the
shipment of Southwestern-bred Hereford calves
into the feedlots of the Central valleys, to be
finished as "baby beef" for the Chicago, Kan
sas City, and Omaha markets.
In South America the Hereford is exten
sively used in connection with operations upon
leading estancias in Argentina, Uruguay, and
southern Brazil. In Australia and in the South
African Cape colonies the breed has also been
successfully introduced. In fact, wherever
grass grows, and especially wherever a forlorn
hope has to be led in range operations, the
hardy Hereford has made fast friends.
POLLED HEREFORDS
In 1898, at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition,
at Omaha, there were exhibited by W. W.
Guthrie, Atchison, Kansas, under the name of
Polled Kansans, some naturally hornless cattle
carrying the color markings and possessing
considerable of the type of standard Here
fords. They were the result of mating pure
bred Hereford cows to a "muley" bull possess
ing a white face and red body, but of unknown
ancestry, presumably, however, a Polled Short
horn-Hereford cross.
Seeing these cattle, and also some crossbred
Red Polled-Hereford calves on his own farm,
gave Mr. Warren Gammon, of Des Moines,
)GRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Iowa, the idea of the value of a naturally
hornless strain of purebred Herefords, if it
could be developed. Mr. Gammon learned that
"sports," "variations," or "freaks" are con
stantly occurring among all species of plants
and animals, and that by proper matings such
"sports" can be propagated true to the new
type. He therefore determined to search for
such a "sport" purebred Hereford that would
differ from the standard Hereford only in the
lack of horns.
A circular inquiry, sent in the fall of 190o
to about 2,500 members of the American Here
ford Cattle Breeders' Association, brought re
plies indicating that fourteen such hornless
purebred and recorded Herefords were in ex
istence, four being bulls and ten cows. The
four bulls and seven of the cows were pur
chased as an experimental foundation herd.
In addition to the polled cows, a number of
registered horned Hereford cows were mated
with the polled bulls. The progeny from these
matings showed that nearly all calves from
polled sires and polled dams were hornless, as
were about half those from polled bulls and
horned cows. From this foundation herd the
present breed or strain of Polled Herefords
has been developed.
When it was demonstrated that polled bulls
would sire polled calves from horned cows, the
pioneer and his associates immediately as
sembled herds of registered horned Hereford
females of desirable blood lines, and as fast as
polled bulls were available they were put in
service with these horned cows. The new
strain was thus very rapidly increased in num
bers until now, at the end of 24 years, there
are upward of 50,000 Polled Herefords re
corded in the American Polled Hereford
Record.
Polled Herefords have spread into every
State in the Union save Delaware and New
Jersey, and have been exported to Canada,
Mexico, South America, Hawaii, the Philip
pines, and Australia.
The American Polled Hereford Breeders'
Association, the national breed organization.
has enrolled more than 2,000 members, and
there are in excess of 12,000 herds of cattle in
the United States headed by Polled Hereford
bulls.
Springing from "sports" occurring among
purebred Herefords, the polled breed differs in
no way from standard Herefords except in
the possession of the polled character. With
the recognized advantages of the hornless head
in beef production, they have met with favor
wherever introduced. Because of limited num
bers and the resulting higher prices, they have
only recently gone to the Western ranges in
any considerable numbers, but during the last
few seasons they have been in strong demand
from that section.
THE JERSEY
(For illustration,see Color Plate XII)
On the French side of the English Channel,
within sight of the west coast of Normandy,
lie the Channel Islands. Formerly they be-